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G. F. PATTERSON.

RAKE CLEANER.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. I0. |919.

1,3 10,541. Patented July 22, 1919.

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Specioation of Letters Patent.

Patented July 22, 1919.

ppncaan med February 1o, 1919. serial No. 276,067.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, GEORGE F. PATTERSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Edgerton, in the county of Pipestone and State of Minnesota, have inven-ted certain new and useful Improvements in Rake- Cleaners, of which the following is a speclfication, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to rakes, and `particularly to a cleaningl attachment therefor whereby grass or other trash which may have accumulated upon the rake teeth may be cleaned therefrom.

One object of my inventi-on is to provide a very simple, light, compact, and durable rake tooth cleaner of the character above referred to whichm'ay be easily manipulated and which will be thoroughly effective, but which will not interfere with the usualmanner of using the rake.

Still another object is to provide a cleaning attachment which may be applled to rakes of the ordinary construction .and -which may :be adjusted upon the handle of the rake to suit the length of the rake Myl invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure lis a top pl n view of a rake constructed in accordance with my invention;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation partly broken Fig. 3 is a side elevation of .a modied form of rake and showing the cleaner `depressed.

Referrin to these drawings, 10 designates a rake han le which is illustrated as formed with .a longitudinally extending passage, though, as illustrated in Fig. 3, this is not absolutely necessary. This handle has the usual diverging arms-10 supporting the usual transversely extending rake head 10b having downwardly extending teeth. Mounted upon the handle of the rake'and preferablyupon the Yferrule or socket 29 is a clamp 11 which is U-shaped to partially embrace the rake handle and is spl-it to form1 two pairs of arms 18 and 19. The arms 18 clam-p upon the rake handle by means of a bolt 16 andthe arms 19 support a forljed lever 12 which is lpivotally mounted upon thev arms 19l by means of transverse bolts 17.

Riveted, rbolted, or otherwise-attached to `'the arms 12 at the point 20 is a forwardly extending rod-21 carrying a transversely eX- 23, each of these rake tending bar 22 to which are attached a plu rality ofV outwardly extending slotted ears ears Ibeing slotted for the passage of a corresponding rake tooth. For the purpose of causing the depression of these cleanlng members `23, I provide a wire or other flexible connection 13 which is attached to tlie lower end of the lever 12 and which passes through an opening 28, then extends longitudinally through the passage of the handle `10, then out through an opening' 26 and is'connected to a hand lever 14 pl-votally mounted upon the handle 10. For `the purpose of retraoting the cleaning membersI 23, that is raising them to the upper end of the rake teeth, I provide a coil contractlle spring 25 atttached to the extremity of the handle 10 and to the bar 21.l

In Fig. 3, I show a slight modification of the invention wherein the members 12, 21, 23 and 25 are ofthe same character as heretofore' described, the lever 12 being mounted upon the clip or clamp scribed, and retracted by means of the spring 25, all as heretofore described. The only difference between the construction illustrated in Fig. 3 and that shown in Fig. 2, is that the wire 13 passes through eyes 30 attached t'o the exterior face of the rake and is then connected to the hand lever 14. By placing this wire 13 upon the'exterior of the 'ding it `through thev eyes 30, to apply my attachment to any and it is possib e rake. y Furthermore, it will ybe seen that by shifting the clamp 111 along the rake, the device may lbe adjusted to'suit any desired length of rake. l

- When grass or refuse has accumulated on the teethof the rake, a slight pressure of the fingers will shift the lever 14, thereby Shifting the lever 12 and causing the cleaning'members to be depressed along the teeth, thus pushing of the'grass or refuse. By releaslng the lever 14, the spring'25 will reti'on where it will be entirely out of the way of the rake teeth and not interfere with the usual use thereof.

Furthermore, if the rake hasany tendency to dig into the soft ground Vand uproot the grass, the members 23 may be shifted down -to their extreme position and this limits the.

11 as heretofore de- 1tract the cleaning member to its initial posi? ound. Vile I 4have illustrated a form of my invention which I believe to be particularly practical, yet it is obvious tha-t many changes might fhe made Without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined in the appended claim.

I claim In la rake cleaner, .the com'bination with a rake head having a -plurality of teeth, of a handle fixed to the head, a ferrule fixed to the handle' adjacent the head, a split clamp in surrounding relation and clamped to the ferrule, said clamp Ibeing constructed from a single piece of sheet metal and com-4 prising pairs yof arms from the opposite ends of the clamp, certain corresponding arms of both pairs fitting 'about the ferrule and provided with means to secure them together, to hold the clamp to the ferrule, certain other correspon-ding arms extending laterally in parallelism and tangentially -to the periphery :of the ferrule and being spaced, a pivot loolt extending through the ends of.z the latter arms, a U-shaped lever straddllng the clamp and having its arms pivotally mounted upon the pivot bolt, a rod pro]ecti ng at right angles from the arched portion of the lever, and toward the teeth of the rake head, a transversely extending bar carriedl loy the extremity of the rod and provided with perforated ears through which the rake teeth pass, a contracting Spring connecting said rod and a pant of the extremity of the handle, the tension of which holds the bar and the ears 1n normal positions, and a hand lever pivotally attached to the handle and having an operative connection passing through the handle and connected to the U-shaped lever.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aliix my signature in the presence of two Witnesses.

GEORGE F. PATTERSON. Witnesses:

J. G. MGGLASHEN, VIOLET M. RING. 

